I'm going to talk about the aesthetic choices that we've made for the new SimCity. I'll describe the sources of inspiration, how we've gone about delivering on them, and the motivations behind them.
I’ve personally always thought of SimCity as a model city that you create and bring to life. It's like an elaborate model train layout, but alive and dynamic. And I'm fascinated with the fastidious, miniaturized detail of model train cities.
One thing to note about model cities is how the buildings are stylized. If you look at real buildings, a lot of them are boring. Even the buildings that are interesting have lots of boring parts. For example, in an industrial area you see huge expanses of warehouse roof and big stretches of blank wall. Boring.
When somebody recreates those buildings for a model city, they squeeze out all of the dullness. They focus on the areas that are interesting to look at, the elements that convey the essence of what that building is about. They compress the scale of the buildings too - typically the larger a building is, the more it's compressed, further intensifying the essence of the building.
This really works! The buildings that you see in a model railroad layout are not only interesting to look at, in many ways they look more like the real thing than the real thing does. A model factory looks more like a factory than a real factory does, because the modeler abstracted out the irrelevant bits, and amplified what makes it unique.
The modeler is making a realistic caricature of the building. Realistic, because it needs to look plausible - people shouldn't notice anything fake about it - but a caricature because what's important about the building has been highlighted and what's irrelevant has been suppressed.
So this is a huge inspiration for us, because of course, we have the same problems. We need to make sure that buildings clearly, unambiguously show their category. A residential building (low wealth, middle density) for example, needs to read as exactly that, with no mistaking it for any other type of building.
Just like model railroaders, we're compressing buildings so that they fit nicely together. The real-life scale differences between a skyscraper, and a shotgun shack are so huge that you couldn't easily see them both in the same scene. Like model railroad dioramas, we're managing scale to make buildings that are vastly different sizes work well with each other.
The other thing to mention about model railroad buildings is how much detail is put into them. The buildings (and the environment) have all of this marvelous detail to look at. You can look into the windows of buildings, you can see the carefully modeled bricks that make up a facade, you can see all of the details that make it look like it's real. And that's our goal too. To put so much detail into the buildings and into the city around them that it feels like a real place.
Because these model buildings are small, it’s difficult to photograph them in a way that keeps the entire scene in focus. Typically, photography of model cities gives away their scale with what are called depth-of-field effects. The foreground might be in focus, for example, but the background will be blurry.
People have been emulating that visual style (of miniature model photography) with real cities, to make real cities look like fantastically, absurdly detailed miniatures. With old fashioned photography, you’d do this by tilting the back-plane of your camera with respect to the lens, so the effect has been named “Tilt-Shift” photography.
We think that tilt-shift is enchanting. And it’s a major inspiration for the new SimCity. Here are some examples.
There are some cool things about these videos that it’s worth mentioning. First, notice how it makes the city seem miniaturized, like you can reach into it and manipulate it. It takes something that is normally large and intimidating, and turns it into something you feel like you could control and play with. I love that. It changes the way that you feel about the city.
Next, with sped-up time (and we’re playing with time in SimCity too, in similar ways) you’re much more conscious of the flows of the city. You can see patterns of movement and activity that aren’t normally visible. It feels like the city has a metabolism, and you’re watching its heart beat. The city starts to feel like a creature. In SimCity, you’re creating those flows, and the roads that they flow down, so this is something that I wanted to apply.
Here’s a screenshot from the game:
When you’re looking at views like this with the view pulled down towards the ground, we’re really turning up the tilt-shift effects. That gives the game that “model-world” effect, but also deepens the sense of space. We want the city to feel like a miniature place, with a landscape going off into the distance, populated by detailed, animated buildings, vehicles and effects.
There’s much more to talk about, but that’s it for now! Hope you enjoyed this look into the visual style of SimCity!
Ocean
Comments
I have been playing Sim City
I have been playing Sim City since the beginning and so far this version has a big thumbs up from me. Lets try to remember that first and foremost this is a game, and as such needs to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Let the realism come from the way the city lives and breathes, and how all the different components interact. I think the graphics add a little nostalgia to the game, and remind me of some of my favourite childhood toys, and the colours look so lush. It just injects a bit of fantasy I don't want to see what I see when I look out of a window, its grey and boring!! A lot of devs go for realism in graphics and fall way short in terms of gameplay. I don't think this is going to happen, keep up the good work and hopefully I will be playing this for as long as I have played SC4 (still playing it now!!)
I really like this new camera
I really like this new camera style! And from the way it's worded in the blog, it seems the tilt-shift is only for when you're really highly zoomed in; that seems like an excellent implementation to me!
I think this is a wonderful
I think this is a wonderful concept, and the art direction looks stunning. The goal of "model" city, is to, in essence, "simulate" a city. In my Lego model city, I even have a central bank, mine, resources, in order to feel like I have the all the necessary economic elements in place, even though the mini-figs aren't "alive" (although it would be great if they did move around in there). IMO, having tilt shift won't take away from the fact that this a city you created, nor from the feeling of it being alive.
I like this! I don't quite
I like this! I don't quite understand the feedback in the comments above: 'SimCity is not a model city it is simulated'.
Every SimCity game we've seen before this one has shown us an 'interpretation' or 'graphical projection' of the cities we build.
In that respect this is still the same except it's using the Tilt-Shift style. I bet I could just sit and watch my city for many hours.
To the fans above, I don't disagree with you, I realize this is personal preference - but we should give it a chance.
The developer seems to indicate that this is the 'highest' level zoom or a specific camera angle that invokes this style - so perhaps your preference is already catered for.
Only just found this blog, please keep the community updates coming!
Actually I think it is a very
Actually I think it is a very well thought out and nice idea. I thought I'd mention because it's getting a bit of hate here.
...Although did I read correctly that we have choices on the camera angle? Because from some views it may not work.
This is a fantastic idea.
This is a fantastic idea. Simcity's edge has always been in the details. I would much rather see a model city that is beautiful and full of great props than the drab 2 dimensional world in Cities XL. I love the over-saturated colors- I think its better to not try to make it look too realistic. An extremely high degree of reality is really not yet possible in computer gaming. Even the newest games that claim to look like reality really don't come close. Great job guys!
I love the look and to be
I love the look and to be honest I can't wait. The top down view (as he mentioned a few times that is when you zoom in) undoublty will be full blown view that we are use to and from what I gather as you zoom in (which we couldn't ever do) and as it starts to tilt , this vision becomes more visual. Makes sense to me. I can't wait!
Will the tilt shift could be
Will the tilt shift could be deactivated?
I don’t like the idea of
I don’t like the idea of compressing the scale, I want a skyscraper to look huge compared to a house. Why would Maxis compress the scale, are computers not powerful enough to have everything be full scale?
I don't usually leave
I don't usually leave comments, but given all the negativity I felt I had voice my support for the direction Maxis are going with this game. I've played every previous iteration of SimCity on PC and personally I love the style that has been adopted. It's really fun and aesthetically pleasing. What's the point of simply rehashing what has gone before. If you prefer the more realistic approach of SimCity, stick to that game. But, Maxis if you listening stick your guns - the new look and feel looks awesome and will definitely be bringing me back to the game. It may even be the catalyst for spending a few hundred quid on a new PC!
I wish they would release it
I wish they would release it now and then update the graphics and stuff like that later
The truth about new SimCity
The truth about new SimCity (2013)
SimCity (2013): The Deception Continues ...
http://sc2013thedeception.blogspot.com
The truth about new SimCity
The truth about new SimCity (2013)
SimCity (2013): The Deception Continues ...
http://sc2013thedeception.blogspot.com
Personally, I like this more
Personally, I like this more iconic, "cartoonish" style as opposed to the drab and gritty look of SC4. Considering that this is a game where you can attack your cities with giant monsters, build tourist traps showcasing llamas that somehow spur economic growth, and apparently hold home to super-heroes and villains, not to mention the "Simlish" babble of your citizens, I'd say it actually makes sense.
Besides, I play the Sim City games to create functioning versions of Corneria, Metropolis, or Canterlot, not recreate drab So-Cal suburban towns that I could care less about.
I think the tilt-shifting
I think the tilt-shifting lens is a really nice touch that has a very nice effect, especially for screenshots. But i do feel that players should have the option to turn this feature off.
*Disclaimer NOT REALLY the
*Disclaimer NOT REALLY the moaner's above can suck a fat one.
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